Strange beeps from Dell XPS 13 9343

[leachim]

Can't determine what these beeps mean

 

https://vimeo.com/180330051

 

No display, no fan - lights flash

 

Any ideas ?

 

Thanks

[round2it]

How to Use and Troubleshoot the XPS 13 (9343) | Dell US

 

Look at computer fails to start section

 

CMOS battery and ram would be my first place to look

Edited August 26, 2016 by round2it

[leachim]

Yeah, I saw this but can't work out how many beeps ??

Fan doesn't come on either ??

[round2it]

It's either one or 5 fast beeps but from experience of dell laptops it may possibly be a main board failure

Test the fan with a battery to see if it's working the laptop may shut down to protect itself if the fan is not working.

Edited August 26, 2016 by round2it

[Guest MD5T]

Normally ram causes this but on researching Google looks like system board failure.

[leachim]

Sadly the ram is soldered onto the board so cannot be tested

[difinity]

It sounds and looks like a BIOS issue to me.

[leachim]

I took the bios battery out and put it back again after 1 hour

Not sure how long it is supposed to be....

[difinity]

I took the bios battery out and put it back again after 1 hour

Not sure how long it is supposed to be....

 

Sadly that won't work, the BIOS chip needs removing from the board, programming in an external programmer then soldering back on the board.

[NviGate_Systems]

How to Use and Troubleshoot the XPS 13 (9343) | Dell Ireland

 

This indicates board failure. Most systems *should* post even if the CMOS battery is dead/defective. CMOS battery handles storing of BIOS config, it's not like in the old days when you entered LBA's for your drive. ;-)

[difinity]

This indicates board failure. Most systems *should* post even if the CMOS battery is dead/defective. CMOS battery handles storing of BIOS config, it's not like in the old days when you entered LBA's for your drive. ;-)

 

A laptop won't POST if the BIOS is corrupted. I wouldn't suggest a board has failed when 80%+ of motherboards I see can be repaired.

[NviGate_Systems]

Sorry, didn't mean to imply no-one could recover it, just that for the majority, it's not a skillset we have.

 

Op did not mention any activity prior to the beeps, so if it was a failed BIOS update, yes that would require reflash or ROM swamp, but rom swap is a matter of expertise in most laptops, in which case I would say only about 20% of techs would have the needed skills to use a rework station to take the old one off and solder a new one in if it's a SMD.

 

The CMOS/BIOS is part of the board, and any failure of a component on the board typically means board = dead. From one standpoint.

 

Most systems I have serviced still POST if the settings are corrupted, the simply will state checksum bad. Now if the actual ROM memory is damaged and it can't start POST, then that's a different beast.

 

Anyways, leachim, update us on what happened, we'd love to know.

 

David